Aka-Shino Chawan — Red Shino Glaze, Mino Ware, Wooden Box

Aka-Shino Chawan — Red Shino Glaze, Mino Ware, Wooden Box

This tea bowl (chawan) is glazed in Aka-Shino (red Shino) style: a thick feldspathic Shino glaze over an iron-rich slip, fired to a deep rust red with darker speckling and soft orange flashes. Where the slip thins or stops, the glaze turns milky white, showing in a patch on the outer wall, in swirls inside the bowl and in a broad band around the foot. Fine pinholes scattered across the surface are a characteristic feature of Shino glaze, created as gases escape through the thick feldspar coating during firing.

Shino originated in the Mino region (present-day Gifu) in the late 16th century, during the Momoyama period, and is regarded as the first white-glazed ware made in Japan. Its soft, uneven surfaces suited the wabi aesthetic of the tea ceremony, and red Shino became one of its most admired variations.

The form is a half-cylinder (hantsutsu) shape with straight walls, a gently warped rim and a spatula-cut ridge circling the upper body. The low foot is trimmed in a bold spiral and left unglazed, revealing the pale, sandy clay typical of Mino ware.

Details:

• Origin: Japan, Mino ware, Aka-Shino (red Shino) style; kiln/artist unconfirmed

• Form: Hantsutsu (half-cylinder) chawan, warped rim, cut ridge on upper body

• Glaze: Rust-red Shino over iron slip, white Shino at foot and in patches, natural pinholing

• Foot: Unglazed, spiral-trimmed, pale sandy clay

• Box: Wooden box with blue and white cord

• Condition: Good secondhand condition — please see photos for any marks

• Dimensions: (Diam.) approx. 11.3cm x (H) approx. 8.3cm